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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can ... - WordPress.com

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knows it. When she arrives at a party,Sally <strong>of</strong>ten wishes she could hide beh<strong>in</strong>dthe nearest couch—until her prefrontalcortex takes over and she rememberswhat a good conversationalistshe is. Even so, her amygdala, with itslifetime <strong>of</strong> stored associations betweenstrangers and anxiety, sometimes prevails.Sally admits that sometimes shedrives an hour to a party and thenleaves five m<strong>in</strong>utes after arriv<strong>in</strong>g.When I th<strong>in</strong>k <strong>of</strong> my own experiences<strong>in</strong> light <strong>of</strong> Schwartz’s f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs, I realizeit’s not true that I’m no longer shy; I’vejust learned to talk myself down fromthe ledge (thank you, prefrontal cortex!).By now I do it so automaticallythat I’m hardly aware it’s happen<strong>in</strong>g.When I talk with a stranger or a group<strong>of</strong> people, my smile is bright and mymanner direct, but there’s a splitsecond that feels like I’m stepp<strong>in</strong>g onto347/929

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